Sensex, Nifty spurt as RBI steps in to ease MF’s liquidity woes
Mumbai: Indian equities on Monday closed significantly higher despite paring notable intra-day gains, as financial stocks came to life on the Reserve Bank’s move to offer Rs 50,000 crore liquidity support to mutual funds.
At close, the BSE gauge Sensex was up 415.86 points or 1.33 per cent at 31,743.08. The index tumbled 360 points from its day’s high of 32,103.
Similarly, the NSE barometer Nifty settled higher by 127.90 points or 1.40 per cent at 9,282.30.
On the Sensex chart, 25 scrips closed in the green.
IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying over 6 per cent, ahead of its earnings announcement. Axis Bank, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Finance too surged up to 5 per cent.
On the other hand, NTPC, M&M, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and ITC were the laggards.
Sectorally, bank, finance, basic materials, realty, healthcare and IT indices rallied up to 3.54 per cent. While BSE power index was the only loser among the 19 indicies.
In the broader market, midcap and smallcap indices outperformed the Sensex, rising up to 1.44 per cent.
The Indian market was also lifted by positive sentiment on Asian bourses as hope for more monetary policy easing by global central banks gained further traction after Bank of Japan stepped up its stimulus to contain virus shock to its economy.
Broadly, the domestic market was driven by the Reserve Bank’s announcement of a special liquidity facility of Rs 50,000 crore for mutual funds, with an aim to ease liquidity pressures on mutual funds.
Some profit-booking at the fag-end of the session, however, pulled key indices from the day’s highs.
